Behind
Them In Single File Came A Lot Of Women, Each Bearing A. Rolled-Up
Mat, Which They Threw Down In A Heap.
These mats are made from the
dried "pandanus" leaf.
Then several men appeared bearing enormous Fiji
baskets full of large rolls of food wrapped up in leaves, also smaller
baskets made of the fresh leaves of the crimson DRACAENA, also full of
food. From the enormous number of baskets, the food supply was enough
to feed a large multitude. They were all put down together by the mats.
Then there was dead silence, in which you could almost have heard
the proverbial pin drop, and an oldish man stepped forward and stood
by the mats and baskets, his body wound round with "tapa" till it
stuck out many feet from his body. The crowd broke silence with an
ear-piercing yell. He then spoke, and was interrupted from time to time
with cries of approval or the reverse, and sometimes loud laughter,
while the "Buli," sitting by me, every now and then shouted out,
or broke into a childish giggle. Then the speaker uttered a lot
of short sentences very fast, and every one present said "Venaka"
(good) at the end of each sentence. Then the old man unwound the
"tapa" around him and threw it on the mats, as did others.
Silence again, and I began to think all was over, but suddenly there
was another shrill sort of yell from the crowd, and from the back of
our hut, amid a tremendous uproar from all present and the beating of
"lalis" (drums), appeared a procession of about fifty warriors in their
usual picturesque get-up, all brandishing large war-clubs.
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